The New York Society Library has recently completed the online cataloging of its Hammond Collection: 1,152 novels, plays, poetry, and other works from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Originally part of a New England lending library, these volumes date from 1720 to 1847 (bulk dates 1770-1820) and reflect the popular reading interests of those years, including Gothic novels, romances, epistolary fiction, musical comedies, and other genres. A number of these books are quite scarce; in a few cases, the NYSL holds the only known extant copy.

To browse these books as a group in the Library’s catalog: http://library.nysoclib.org/, search by author for “James Hammond’s Circulating Library.”

The New York Society Library is a membership library in New York City, founded in 1754. For more information, please visit their Website: http://www.nysoclib.org/

Our special collections are accessible to members and non-members alike. We invite interested researchers to contact us at rare[underscore]books[at]nysoclib[dot]org.